


Hurricane Outrun

by stardropdream



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Implied Sexual Content, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-13
Updated: 2013-01-13
Packaged: 2017-11-25 08:00:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/636790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardropdream/pseuds/stardropdream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kamui lands in a world after getting separated from Subaru during inter-dimensional travel, where Fuuma has been staying in search of something for Yuuko.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hurricane Outrun

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on LJ August 13, 2008.

The world was warm and sandy. Even before they entered completely Kamui could feel the sun against his cheeks, warm and unfamiliar after so many dark nights in cold worlds. It was the same as always—they were running, trying to get away from a man who was chasing his brother, someone he would do in all his power to rid his twin of. Every world blurred together—they never stayed long. Pillars of salt and pillars of sand all shifted and danced away in the wind. They would break the sky every time, only to leave at least a day later. There were few worlds that stood out in Kamui’s mind. They fell through dimensions, approaching this new, warm world. Kamui felt Subaru slipping. He tried to keep his grip tight on his twin’s hand, but as the world began to open up, their hands fell apart.

“Subaru!” Kamui shouted as his twin fell away behind him, their hands still outstretched to keep holding on, fingertips only inches but worlds apart.

Kamui landed in water, sputtering and searching the sky for his twin. When he didn’t appear, the vampire cursed loudly.

“My,” said a voice behind him, laughing. Kamui froze instantly, his entire body stiffening in a mixture of shock and anger—he knew that voice like the back of his hand, and he hated himself for recognizing it so readily. “And here I’d always been under the assumption that vampires melted in water.”

“What a stupid, ridiculous thing to say,” Kamui growled out angrily, eyes narrowed and golden. He whirled around to glare at the hunter, expression twisted into barely concealed rage.

Fuuma smiled at him benignly.

“That’s holy water,” Kamui growled. “And no. We don’t melt. That’s just a stupid legend. You should know that after—”

His thoughts went back to Subaru, alone and falling between worlds. He knew the time would amount to only seconds for Subaru, but he still didn’t like the idea of his twin being alone.

“But of course,” Fuuma agreed, and even that managed to enrage Kamui further.

“Where’s Subaru?” Kamui snapped, ignoring the man’s smile—even that reminded him too much of things he’d left behind and had no intention of revisiting. And he hated what that smile did to him, and what he refused to admit it did to him.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Fuuma replied cheerfully. “Here I was, just minding my own business, taking a nice afternoon bath, when you just fall from the sky in front of me. Did you miss me that much, Kamui?”

“I don’t miss anyone,” Kamui snapped quickly, glaring, ruffling up much like an agitated chicken (though such a comparison would only enrage Kamui even more.) “The only person I care about is Subaru.”

“Hm,” Fuuma said in a way that wasn’t quite agreement but wasn’t quite disagreement, either. His keen eyes watched Kamui for a long moment, expression unreadable. “No matter where you are or who you are, you’re always missing someone.”

Kamui scoffed. Loudly. “Who do you think you are, saying such a thing to me? Where is Subaru?”

Fuuma shrugged, his default expression rippling back across his face. “He hasn’t landed yet. You’ve arrived first, it would appear.”

Kamui stared up at the sky, and he growled low in his throat. Fuuma laughed and politely ducked Kamui’s agitated slash in his general direction. Sluggish from inter-dimensional travel and slowed down by the water, Kamui shouldn’t have been surprised when his hands were twisted behind his back, Fuuma pressed against him. He was, of course, and glared at the hunter as he placed his chin on Kamui’s shoulder, smiling up at him.

“He’ll show up,” Fuuma said in some glimmer of sympathy quickly overshadowed by a small twist of Kamui’s wrist and that familiar cocky expression overpowering his facial features. “You’ll smell him the moment he enters this world.”

“You think I don’t know this already?” Kamui snapped, struggling against his captor. Fuuma kept his grip tight, one hand gripping Kamui’s wrists, another wrapped comfortably around Kamui’s middle, holding him close, his back molding against the hunter’s chest.

Fuuma didn’t say anything and he betrayed nothing on his face as he nuzzled against Kamui’s neck.

“Did you miss me at all, I wonder.”

“NO.”

Fuuma laughed low in his throat. “No, of course not. How silly of me to think otherwise.”

“Let me go.”

“No,” Fuuma murmured in his ear and Kamui could feel the man’s breath against his cheek, ghosting there almost naturally so. Kamui shook that feeling away.

“Fuck,” Kamui cursed quietly.

Fuuma laughed again. Kamui’s golden eyes burned furiously as he glared at the man, his entire being screaming at him to run away. But he couldn’t. And the part of him that felt natural just standing there, letting the hunter hold him like back in Tokyo was quickly bashed in the head and sent to the corner of his mind, where it was stubbornly and pointedly ignored. No, he could not like this.

“What will you do if I let you go, hm?”

“Kill you.”

“And you wonder why I just can’t keep my hands off of you, huh?”

Kamui struggled, worming against the sturdy, unwavering back pressed against him. He could feel the man’s heartbeat, feel the pulse of his blood and the way the breath ghosting over his skin hitched just the tiniest bit when he did that. It made Kamui pause, staring out over the horizon, almost afraid to turn his head and see what kind of expression the hunter was making.

“What’re you doing here, anyway?”

“Looking for ancient ruins,” Fuuma breathed against him. “The artifacts there hold quite the intrigue for Yuuko-san.”

“Hm.” Kamui wiggled against him, still trying to break free, but the gold slowly seeped from his eyes. “Hopefully you’ll find it soon.”

“How kind of you, Kamui.”

“Don’t misunderstand,” Kamui growled. “The sooner you get what you need the sooner you’ll leave. I don’t need you anywhere near Subaru. The less he sees of you, the happier I’ll be.”

“And all I want is to make you happy,” Fuuma teased, breathing against his ear.

Kamui growled. “You hunters are all the same.”

“Ah,” Fuuma said, feigning surprise. “Is Kamui punishing me because of who my brother is? How cruel. I could never compete against Seishirou-niisan, you know.”

“Shut up,” Kamui hissed. “The less you know of us the less you’ll report back to your stupid brother.”

“You seem to have quite the confidence in our brotherly bond, Kamui,” Fuuma said, and once again it was hard for Kamui to decide whether the man was agreeing or disagreeing.

“Find your precious pottery and dirty footstools or whatever the hell you’re searching for and then leave this world.”

“You’re really in no position to make demands, you know,” Fuuma said, and tightened his hold on Kamui’s arms, as if Kamui had somehow forgotten the hold this man had over him.

“Don’t make me say it twice,” Kamui hissed, voice low and throaty.

“You make it sound as if I don’t listen to you, Kamui,” Fuuma said, sounding disappointed. If not for the years they’d known each other, Kamui might have almost believed he was upset.

“You never listen.”

“Only when it matters,” Fuuma corrected. His smile never wavered, just stretched across his lips, taut and tense. Kamui despised that smile. He told himself he despised that smile, and refused to think anything else of it.

“I should kill you.”

“Should you?” He almost sounded too amused.

“I will,” Kamui vowed.

“All the more reason not to let you go, I’d think,” Fuuma said pleasantly. “Though I don’t think you would. You’ve had far too many chances in Tokyo, and even here. If you really wanted to kill me, Kamui, I think you would have by now.”

“I will be the one to kill you,” Kamui promised, eyes narrowed.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Fuuma said with a chuckle.

Kamui snorted, his expression sour. Fuuma laughed again, cheerful as ever. Kamui suspected he was the only man in existence that could laugh like that at the promise of death from someone as violent and deadly as a pureblooded vampire. But that, Kamui supposed, was what made this man so damn aggravating.

“I, for one,” Fuuma continued after a pregnant pause, “was so lonely these last few days. I’m so glad I have Kamui to play with now.”

“Not for long,” Kamui snapped. “Once Subaru arrives, you won’t see us ever again.”

“Then I suppose I’ll never die, if you’re the one to kill me,” Fuuma mused. His grip didn’t loosen. “And when do you suppose your brother will show up? It could take days, weeks, months, or—”

“Don’t you ever stop talking?” Kamui hissed.

“Not when you and I finally have some alone time together,” Fuuma said cheerfully.

Kamui groaned.

“There, there,” Fuuma murmured. “I’d thought you’d be happy to see me after so long.”

“It’s only been a few months,” Kamui snapped.

“It’s been a year for me,” Fuuma said, not missing a beat. “And what a long, lonely year it’s been.”

“I’m so sure,” Kamui groused, deadpanned.

“You have your brother to accompany you through worlds. But poor me, with no one to talk to—”

“—That explains why you won’t ever just shut the fuck up—”

“—It’s especially unlucky in worlds like this, where there are no people,” Fuuma finished, ignoring Kamui’s interruption.

“… No people?” Kamui parroted, growing still.

“No people,” Fuuma agreed. “But not like something like that should bother you, Kamui. Unless…”

Kamui did not like the way he trailed off like that.

“Unless Kamui’s hungry,” Fuuma sighed against Kamui’s ear, words soft but the meaning striking a grim realization within Kamui. He growled. Fuuma chuckled. “Am I right?”

“… No.” Kamui sagged against the man. “I’m not hungry.”

“You’re not very good at lying.”

Kamui bristled. “You would know.”

“I’m glad you think so highly of me as to be able to read you so well.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know,” Fuuma admitted, smiling.

“Hmph.”

“Well no use in standing in the ocean all day,” Fuuma finally released Kamui from his grip and he thrashed away. “You might not be hungry, but I am.”

And with that, a teasing smile still pulling across his face, Fuuma turned away—exposing his unprotected back—and began wading back to shore. Kamui bristled, contemplating slashing the moron’s back for his damn conceited attitude, before following after him to the beach. Once there, Fuuma retrieved a towel from a large knapsack and chucked it at Kamui. Kamui glared but Fuuma ignored him, favoring his attention towards slinging the bag over his shoulder and slogging up the beach, kicking up sand as he went. Kamui followed him, but only so he’d know where he was sleeping and how to avoid him.

As they approached the tide line, Kamui spotted a small hut made of driftwood. He stared at it as Fuuma approached it, grabbing a stray log and plopping it on a low burning fire, surrounded by rocks.

“How long have you been here?”

“Three days?” Fuuma guessed, rolling his eyes upward and ticking them off his fingers. “Four, I mean. Today’s the fourth day.”

“You built this?”

“You don’t see anyone else around who could have, do you?”

Kamui huffed. “Shut the hell up.”

Fuuma laughed again, but complied, reasonably so. Kamui hovered about, testing the sturdiness of Fuuma’s hut—disguised as a swift, frustrated kick.

“It’s been a year since you saw me?” he asked after a moment of silence.

“Three hundred and sixty-five days exactly,” Fuuma said.

Kamui deadpanned again. “You’ve counted.”

“I keep track of how long I spend in each world. How long I’ve been traveling for.” He pulled out a small notebook from his knapsack before tossing it towards the vampire, who caught it effortlessly. “Take a look for yourself.”

Kamui looked down at the worn leather and slowly opened it to the first page. Yuuko-san’s world it said in shaky lettering and one thick mark beside it. Kamui frowned. The next world had five tally marks beside it and was called Winterbirth. The notebook continued on in such a fashion for almost five pages before he came to Tokyo (the one with the acid rain). The tally marks went on for pages. Kamui angled a small glare towards the man. Fuuma smiled.

Kamui flipped through the rest of the pages—Pandora, Kondaya, Antelé, France, Fernes, Earth (the one without technology), Unnamed world (green forest, no wind, silver pools), Gondorianey, Earth (the one like Yuuko-san’s world), Godspell, Piffle, Nihon, Kyoto, Cephiro—only to name a few that caught Kamui’s eye. The notebook stretched for pages. A new page began with Miya and the tally was at three. The other worlds after the pages of Tokyo (the one with the acid rain) only ever had about one line of tally marks at most—he’d spent over a month in Godspell. Kamui slammed the notebook shut and threw it back to Fuuma.

“I’ve been travelling for a few years now,” Fuuma said conversationally. “Plus the years I got to spend fighting you. Though that world was a bit of a holiday.”

Kamui glared. A holiday indeed.

“One year today since I last saw you,” Fuuma continued, pulling an old pen from his backpack and clicking it, adding a fourth dash mark after Miya on the page. He looked up at Kamui and laughed. “Happy anniversary.”

“Shut up,” Kamui snapped over Fuuma’s laughter.

 

\---

 

“I take it you’re going to be staying here, then,” Fuuma said the next day when Kamui still hadn’t left Fuuma’s campsite. The man didn’t actually sound like he minded, and he betrayed nothing from behind his smile. He shoved a plank of flat driftwood into a crevice in one of the walls of his hut, trying to squeeze it in and block the hole that’d been there before.

“The closer I am to where Subaru will fall the better,” Kamui said grumpily, arms crossed and sitting on the sand petulantly.

Fuuma tapped the back of Kamui’s head with a foot. “Cheer up.”

Kamui turned very slowly around, eyes shimmering into a dark golden color. He glared darkly up at the man, who cheerfully ignored him, still shoving against the plank of driftwood. He stiffened a bit, watching the hunter’s movements and waiting for their eyes to meet. When they did, his expression darkened.

“Don’t touch me.” He straightened a bit. “And I have no reason to ‘cheer up’ as it were.”

“And to think I’d almost forgotten how much of a grump you really were,” Fuuma said, more to himself, looking thoughtfully up at the clear blue sky.

“Consider this a warning,” Kamui said very quietly, but loud enough that he knew the hunter had heard him. “Do anything to piss me off and I can’t guarantee that you’ll make it out with all your limbs intact.”

“How scary!”

Kamui almost didn’t know how to respond to his impudence. “Remember that.”

“I always remember what Kamui tells me,” Fuuma said in an almost sing-song tone. “Especially when it involves possible dismemberment.”

“Good,” Kamui snorted.

Fuuma laughed and finally managed to get the driftwood into the proper hole. He pulled back, dusting off his hands, despite having no dust on them. He ran a hand through his hair and looked down at Kamui, who was still too busy being intimidating and angry to really pay much mind to his apparent accomplishment.

“It is, isn’t it? I’ve really outdone myself,” he said happily, hands on hips, observing his hut.

Kamui deadpanned, the gold leaking from his eyes and replacing it with their natural color. “What?”

“My hut,” Fuuma said with a wave of his hand, grinning. “Looks nice, doesn’t it?”

“… I don’t care,” Kamui decided.

“That means you don’t want to admit you like it, huh?” Fuuma tilted his head back, closing his eyes and feeling the sun on his face.

Doing so made sure he missed the vaguely surprised look on Kamui’s face.

“Shut up.”

“That means I’m right,” Fuuma decided, crossing his arms and leaning against his hut.

“Stop acting like you know me.”

“Stop making it easy,” Fuuma countered.

Kamui kicked sand on his fire, just to be difficult. Fuuma found it more amusing than anything else.

 

\---

 

Seven tally marks on the page and still no Subaru. Kamui was growing agitated, and Fuuma did very little to help his mood. In fact, it seemed as if Fuuma flourished on pissing Kamui off. It really pissed Kamui off.

“What exactly are you searching for and why haven’t you found it yet?”

Fuuma glanced up from where he was squatting near the fire, roasting what could have been a small rodent at one time.

He paused, and then said, “Gold, jewels, ancient technology. Yuuko-san wasn’t specific which means that whatever I can find will suffice. She also failed to say where exactly the ruins are.”

“Uh huh,” Kamui muttered, still looking rather put upon.

“Not that something like that’s ever stopped me,” Fuuma continued, ignoring Kamui’s lack of enthusiasm. He looked over at Kamui, his eyes glinting over the rims of his red-tinted sunglasses and his lips quirked into a smirk. “I like challenges.”

Kamui’s eyes narrowed.

Fuuma tapped his chin before turning back to the roasting rodent and flipping it over. “The stream runs from a dwindling glacier at the center of this island—it’s an extinct volcano. And all ancient civilizations had a river in or near it. So if I follow the river, I’ll eventually find what I need to get for Yuuko-san. It should lead me straight to the ruins.”

“Why don’t you go drown yourself in the river instead?” Kamui asked sourly as Fuuma pulled the rodent from the fire.

“I know how to swim,” Fuuma returned easily, inspecting the skewered food with a critical eye. Then he bit down on the creature and spat into the fire. Kamui stared at him, incredulous, as Fuuma began picking at the exposed chest cavity. He slowly pulled out a small, charred piece of tissue.

“What the fuck is that?” Kamui hissed.

“The heart,” Fuuma said quietly, his lips hinting at a smile. “Or what’s left of it, at least. Some say it’s the most important part of the body.”

Fuuma held the little rodent heart out to Kamui, but when it looked as if Kamui was ready to slap the heart from Fuuma’s hand, he retreated his hand, holding the little heart almost protectively.

“You own the heart you tame,” Fuuma continued as if nothing was out of the ordinary, as if holding a tiny heart between his thumb and index finger was perfectly natural for him. “A dangerous task, to try and tame a wild animal’s heart.”

“What stupidity are you spewing now?” Kamui bristled, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up on end as he glared at the hunter. “Who would do something like that? A wild animal is wild and untamable. No one tries to tame them for a reason, you jackass.”

“Someone once told me you’re responsible for what you tame. Responsible for the someone that means something to you.”

“Who the hell told you that?” Kamui really wasn’t sure exactly where this conversation was going, and wasn’t sure if he wanted to know.

“A book.”

“A book,” Kamui mimicked, and couldn’t veil his somewhat disgusted look.

Fuuma nodded. “I read it in France. I gave a copy to Yuuko-san. She seemed to like it.”

“I’m so sure.”

“I’d let you read my copy, but I don’t think you know French.”

“Like I’d want to read anything you like,” Kamui growled.

Fuuma was quiet a moment, inspecting the rodent’s heart, rolling the charred organ between his fingertips. Kamui watched him, curious despite himself.

“I wonder who will tame your heart, Kamui.”

“What?”

“Just a question, just a thought,” Fuuma said, his smile light, his eyes dark. He tossed the heart into the fire and watched it burn.

 

\---

 

Nine tally marks and Fuuma went up the river to search for the ruins. He invited Kamui, but Kamui claimed to have far better things to do than to spend unnecessary time with a stupid man on a stupid treasure hunt. He sat on a piece of driftwood and waited for Subaru.

Fuuma didn’t return until nightfall, empty handed. Kamui could smell his blood an hour before he stumbled into camp. He was bleeding pretty heavily.

“First aid kit in my bag,” Fuuma panted, peeling off his shirt as he collapsed by the fire Kamui’d been keeping alive for the last twelve hours. Kamui dug around his bag, pushing away useless things until he found a red, zippered bag. He threw it at Fuuma.

It hit his bleeding shoulder and he hissed, tensing up. Then he laughed and murmured a thank you, unzipping the bag and pulling out bandages and medicine. He tended to himself and Kamui watched, eyes slit and burning liquid gold. He hated the smell. It was delicious. It was almost too much for Kamui to resist. It should have been impossible for such an infuriating man to smell so utterly delicious.

He almost wasn’t aware he was moving until he sat down beside the man and pressed his mouth to his shoulder, licking at the blood in soft, frequent strokes.

“Ah, Kamui,” Fuuma began, almost sounding breathless. “I thought you said you weren’t hungry?”

Kamui drank his blood, licking at the wound. “What the hell did you do to yourself?”

“Fell off a cliff.”

“… What?”

Fuuma began to shrug but thought better of it. “There was a waterfall. I tried to climb up the cliff but the rocks were slicker than I anticipated.”

“So you fell like an idiot.”

“Something like that, yeah,” Fuuma said, grinning despite the blood that oozed down his forehead and over his eyebrow and made him blink his eye a few times. “Why? Are you worried about me, Kamui?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Kamui hissed, even as he sucked at the gash running along his chest. He shoved the man down, straddling him and licking at his chest with an insistent tongue. Fuuma didn’t protest.

“Of course,” he agreed instead.

 

\---

 

Ten tally marks, one week since Kamui had arrived, and still no sign of Subaru. Fuuma awoke with his wounds bandaged and his shoulder sore. He made a fire and ate a modest breakfast, some kind of freeze-dried food from his knapsack. Adjusting his bandages absently, he angled a look at Kamui over his bowl of breakfast. Kamui glared at him.

“Hungry?” he asked the vampire, pleasantly so. He smirked.

Kamui felt his eyebrows furrow and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

“Or did you have enough last night?” Fuuma continued, his smirk shifting into a knowing smile, the corners quirking and threatening laughter.

“Shut up,” Kamui said tensely. “There’s no use letting food go to waste.”

“I’m glad I could assist you somehow, Kamui.” Fuuma rolled his shoulder, working out the kinks in his sore muscles. Kamui looked as if he were about to say something but thought better of it. Fuuma laughed. “You could barely keep yourself off me. When was the last time you ate?”

“Why do you care?”

“I’m wondering if I should worry over you draining me dry.”

Kamui snorted. “It’d get you to shut up, I suppose.”

“You should eat. I’m going to the waterfall again. I won’t be back until nightfall.”

“Subaru will show up and we’ll have no more use for you,” Kamui said, tense and still glaring.

Fuuma laughed. “You should accept gifts when they’re given to you, Kamui.”

“What will I need to do to pay you back, though?”

“You pay me back with the pleasure of your company.” Fuuma chuckled softly.

“… What the hell,” Kamui muttered, more to himself.

“The only thing that doesn’t have a price to receive is feelings, you know,” Fuuma said, voice dropping low, as if he were sharing a secret with the vampire.

“Who the hell told you that?” Kamui snapped, and part of him wanted to ask why that mattered. He didn’t, though.

“Yuuko-san, of course,” Fuuma chirped.

“I guess she’d know.”

“Hmm,” Fuuma agreed. “Like her or not, she knows what she’s talking about.”

“You seem to have a lot of faith in that woman.”

“Faith?” Fuuma echoed and shrugged. “She’s my boss.”

“But you believe her words.”

“Most of them. Yuuko-san omits the truth a lot.”

“And you flat out lie.”

“Do I?”

“Avoiding the truth is just the same as lying,” Kamui pressed. “And dodging around questions with your own questions is just damn annoying.”

Fuuma shrugged. “I suppose.”

“Price of feelings, huh?” Kamui mused, mostly to himself, drawing away from the topic of Fuuma’s honesty (or lack thereof.) He watched the waves crash on the beach. “I wonder if that’s true…”

“Sure it is,” Fuuma interrupted his thoughts, voice surprisingly firm. It softened quickly enough, light and teasing, as was typical of him. “You love Subaru-san because he’s your brother and you just do. You don’t love him because you expect him to give something to you because of it.”

Kamui hid his surprise well, forcing himself at glare at the hunter instead. “I suppose it’s like that with your brother too, then.”

Fuuma stared at the fire and shrugged. “Hmm… I wonder.”

Kamui watched his face and the way his smile seemed a bit too tight. Fuuma threw a piece of driftwood onto the fire, watching it burn.

“It’s interesting,” he said. “All this driftwood was worn away by the ocean. I could be burning ancient wood from an extinct tree right now from halfway across this world, or I could be burning a palm tree. In the end, it doesn’t matter. They all burn the same.”

Kamui was quiet for a long time, just watching the hunter’s face, both their expression unreadable.

After a long silence, it was Kamui who spoke. “That one is crackling.”

“So it is.”

Kamui stared at the fire. “They seem like the same but they all burn differently, even if they look the same.”

Fuuma pillowed his hands in his palms, looking at Kamui curiously. “Kamui is surprisingly observant.”

“Whatever.”

Fuuma laughed.

There was another long moment of silence. Kamui slanting a suspicious look at him.

“You sure you’re not going to fall and break your neck this time?”

“Nah,” Fuuma dismissed cheerfully. “I’m too stubborn to die.”

Kamui rolled his eyes. “I don’t doubt the stubborn part. I’m not licking your wounds again.”

“Oh?”

“I’ll go with you to make sure your stubborn ass doesn’t hit the fucking ground from forty feet up.”

Fuuma smiled. “How kind of you, Kamui.”

“The moment Subaru shows up, though,” Kamui warned, “You’re on your own.”

“I’m used to it at this point,” Fuuma said with a wave of his hand, dismissing it easily.

 

\---

 

That night, after an unsuccessful search for ancient ruins, Fuuma pulled out an old knife from his bag and cut the side of his neck. Kamui watched him, the way the cool metal sliced away a few layers of skin, enough to bleed, and the way he flinched just the tiniest bit, his eyes clenching shut. Kamui didn’t say anything as he drank the hunter’s blood. He wasn’t doing it because he wanted to, but because it was necessary. Fuuma said nothing while Kamui drank, tongue lapping at the blood, lips pillowing against his skin. He was unaccustomed to being the prey. He was surprised he liked it as much as he did. Kamui hated himself for how intoxicating and delicious this man’s blood truly was. He drank until he was full but stayed there until the wound clotted, licking lazily at the skin, and picking up the few remaining traces of blood on his neck.

When he pulled away, his eyes were on the night sky and not on Fuuma. Fuuma wrapped a bandage around his slicked neck absently.

“He’ll come soon,” Fuuma offered in a tone that would have been comforting from anyone else.

“I know,” Kamui said quietly, eyes still on the horizon.

 

\---

 

Twelve tally marks and Fuuma finally found the ruins. He poked around most of the day and didn’t start back until long after the sun had set. He had a headlamp he’d acquired in Piffle, but its power core was running low, so his pursuit back to camp was slow going. Once he arrived, he saw Kamui sitting by the fire.

“Found it,” he said triumphantly as he sat down beside the vampire. Kamui gave him what would have appeared to be a blatantly apathetic look. Fuuma knew better. “It’s practically overrun with vegetation but it’s there.”

“What’d you find?”

“Besides a lot of broken pottery? Not much,” Fuuma replied honestly. “I can’t read their language, either. Can’t even work out an alphabet.”

“Hm.”

“I’ll go back to look tomorrow. There’s bound to be something.” Fuuma stretched, arching his back until he heard a small pop. He sighed. Kamui didn’t say anything for a long moment. Fuuma jabbed him in the side with his elbow lightly. “It’s no fun talking to myself, you know.”

“I’ve been thinking.”

“Wow.”

Kamui glared at him but continued: “About what you said when I first got here.”

“Is that so?”

“That no matter what, there’s always someone you miss,” Kamui elaborated. “Who do you miss?”

“Me?”

“Yeah,” Kamui said, lips spread into a thin line as he regarded him grimly. “Who do you miss right now?”

“I don’t miss anyone anymore,” Fuuma said vaguely, tipping his head back to look at the stars.

“No one?”

“No,” Fuuma murmured and tilted his head to look at the vampire. “I never thought I could miss someone before. It’s strange.”

“What changed, then?”

Fuuma looked at Kamui but said nothing more. Kamui stared at his face, searching for something.

“The stars in this world are nice,” Fuuma said distantly.

“I hadn’t noticed,” Kamui said with a sigh, frustrated by the avoidance.

“Each world has a different night sky. Some are more similar than others. But they all have stars, they all have moon, they all have planets.”

“Huh,” Kamui grunted.

“They’re pretty though, don’t you think? The stars,” Fuuma asked with a polite, vague smile.

“…I guess,” Kamui admitted, “I’d never really noticed them before.”

“I suppose that’s the difference between someone running form something and someone chasing something.”

Kamui remained silent for a long moment, thinking over those words.

“What makes you think I’m running?”

“What makes you think I’m chasing?”

Kamui was silent.

Fuuma was patient.

“What are you chasing?”

“Who knows?”

Kamui stood suddenly, towering over Fuuma, who looked up at him from the log he sat on. Kamui’s eyes burned gold.

“Why can’t you ever give me a straight answer?” he hissed. “Why are you avoiding saying so much? What are you hiding?”

“What am I not hiding?”

Kamui stared at him, angry and flabbergasted by that question.

Fuuma remained silent, though the benign smile he always wore graciously slipped off his face. Slowly, he stood, his eyes never leaving Kamui as he peered at him over the tops of his sunglasses. Kamui glared at him, refusing to back down.

“I’ll give you a straight answer when you ask me the questions you really want to ask.”

Kamui growled. “I’m not nearly as stupid as you think I am.”

“I don’t think you’re stupid, Kamui.” Fuuma paused, “Dense, maybe. But not stupid.”

“I’m not either of those things.” And then Kamui took a step towards Fuuma, tense but strangely resigned. “I’ll ask, then.”

“Alright.” Fuuma smiled again.

“Am I the one who tamed your heart?”

Fuuma’s face remained just the same for a long moment, as if frozen. Kamui still refused to back down, waiting for the man’s answer. And then the polite distance in Fuuma’s smile melted away and it softened around the edges.

Then he said, very, very quietly: “Are you going to make me say it?”

“No,” Kamui murmured, looking at him as if seeing him for the first time. “But how?”

“I don’t know,” Fuuma said honestly. “I really don’t know, Kamui.”

 

\---

 

Thirteen tally marks and Kamui was still waiting. He built the fire while Fuuma slept, hidden inside the driftwood hut that really would do little to shelter from rain or wind without anything to hold it together. When Fuuma woke up, they said very little to one another. Fuuma bathed in the ocean, ate some breakfast, and hiked his way to the ruins. Kamui stayed behind, lost in thought and waiting for his twin. He didn’t move away from the fire, thinking over everything Fuuma had ever said to him, picking everything apart in search of hidden meanings. It was strange, upon hindsight.

When Fuuma returned, Kamui stood and went to meet him. Fuuma said nothing as Kamui snatched the sunglasses from his face and snapped them in two.

“I’ve wanted to do that since I first met you,” Kamui admitted, chucking the ruined eyewear away.

“Oh?” Fuuma asked politely.

“Yes. Now shut up,” Kamui commanded as he curled his hands around Fuuma’s head and pulled him down to meet his lips. Fuuma happily shut up.

 

\---

 

“I always thought I hated you,” Kamui hissed as he seated himself in Fuuma’s lap, pausing to accommodate the foreign sensation this presented.

“I’m glad,” Fuuma said as Kamui sliced through his shirt. His hands went to the vampire’s hips, gripping tightly.

Kamui groaned, shifting against him, hips bumping together. Kamui curled his legs around Fuuma, pushing down until he had Fuuma up to the hilt.

“What do you mean ‘glad’?” Kamui murmured, breathless. He couldn’t bring himself to be annoyed at the statement. His hands gripped Fuuma’s shoulders, nails digging into the soft flesh there.

“The worst thing you can feel for someone is indifference,” Fuuma said, punctuating that remark with a groan and a tiny, involuntary thrust upwards. “The fact that I could make Kamui feel something… anything… means I did something right for—”

He trailed off as he hit something deep inside of Kamui that made the vampire cry out softly and arch against him, nails digging into his shoulders. Kamui stared up at the stars high above them and saw them clearly for the first time. He forced his head down and kissed Fuuma, gripping and writhing against him, bucking in time to Fuuma’s jerks, his fangs biting at his bottom lip.

“Kamui,” Fuuma gasped into his mouth as he continued to hit that spot deep inside of Kamui, making him arch and see stars every time.

They fell into a steady pace, moving as one unit, with cadences and flurries of movements, and Kamui never tore his lips away from Fuuma in fear of what he would say if he had his lips to himself.

Fuuma eventually groaned low and loud against his lips, thrusting one more time before a wave of warmth filled Kamui. Kamui wasn’t far behind him, Fuuma’s hand curled around him to finish him off.

They fell into silence, Kamui curled around Fuuma, Fuuma still inside him and arms holding him close. He worked to catch his breath, ghosting over Kamui’s neck, head nestled against his neck, nose in his hair. Kamui’s fingers curled into his hair and he wondered why this felt like it’d always been.

 

\---

 

Fourteen tally marks and Kamui was the first to wake up. The sand was cool beneath him and conformed to his body almost perfectly. He arched up, cat-like, and watched Fuuma sleep. His face was perfectly neutral and smoothed out from sleep. Kamui almost smiled.

Instead, he got dressed and made a fire he could sit by. He watched the sky, waiting for Subaru.

“How did you know it was one year exactly?” he asked once he felt Fuuma behind him.

“I told you already.”

“You’ve been to hundreds of worlds before and after Tokyo,” Kamui protested. “How could that one stand out most in your mind?”

“None of the others had you,” Fuuma admitted quietly, and Kamui almost thought he’d imagined those words. He wasn’t used to this man’s honesty.

Kamui turned around and stared at him. Fuuma shrugged, unapologetic.

“How can I possibly mean that much to you?”

Fuuma shrugged again, then pulled Kamui closer, gripping him tightly to him.

“I doubt you or I have any control over this kind of thing,” he whispered in his ear. “And believe me, I’ve tried.”

 

\---

 

The sixteenth day Subaru arrived. Fuuma was at the ruins and Kamui waited by the fire. It was shaping up to be an uneventful day when he caught Subaru’s scent on the sea wind. He was on his feet instantly, running across the sand in time to see his twin drop out of the sky, the bright blue sky sagging down with him. Kamui practically flew in his haste to catch Subaru.

They tumbled into the water with only a small protest on Subaru’s part. Kamui clung to him and refused to let go.

“Ah, Kamui,” Subaru said once they resurfaced. He held Kamui’s hands tightly, smiling apologetically. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. You’re here now.”

“How long…?”

Kamui didn’t know the number offhand, which surprised him. A thought occurred to him that Fuuma would know and that surprised him even more.

“Two weeks,” Kamui decided on after a pause. Subaru looked stricken.

“Two weeks? Were you all alone this entire time?”

Kamui paused again while Subaru scanned the surroundings, searching for people who hadn’t been there for hundreds of years. He squeezed Subaru’s hands.

“I wasn’t alone.”

“Where are all the people?” Subaru asked, still scanning the beach.

“There isn’t anyone in this world but one person,” Kamui muttered, crossing his arms. “He’ll be back later today. He went inland.”

Subaru looked confused but didn’t press it.

“We should go,” Kamui said, reluctant. He could have killed himself for the hesitancy.

Subaru smiled. “Ah, but, you shouldn’t leave without saying goodbye. And it’d be nice to sit by the fire and dry off first.”

“You did just get here,” Kamui admitted. “Fine. Dry off.” He hated how easily he agreed to stay in this world. He led Subaru to the fire. “We’ll leave after.”

“Of course, Kamui.”

 

\---

 

“My, my, it seems the population of this world has increased,” a voice said behind the two twins. Subaru and Kamui whirled around as Fuuma sauntered to his spot near the fire, knapsack bulging with whatever he’d’ managed to plunder from the ruins. It dropped down at this feet and he smiled his default, pleasant smile.

“Fuuma-san,” Subaru greeted, unable to hide his embarrassment and surprise at this man’s appearance.

“So the twins have finally reunited,” Fuuma said.

“Yes. Kamui told me it’d been two weeks since he’d landed…”

“Twelve days, actually,” Fuuma corrected with a wave of his hand. “Don’t worry, I’ve been taking good care of your brother.”

Kamui scoffed as Subaru smiled. He glanced between his brother and the hunter for a moment, green eyes thoughtful. “Thank you, Fuuma-san.”

“No need for thanks!”

Subaru’s smile didn’t falter. “I’m glad there was someone here to keep him company.”

Kamui muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, “Don’t talk as if I’m not here…”

Fuuma ignored him and instead said, “He’s good company.”

“Where are all the other people here?” Subaru asked, and glanced around as if expecting to see the people this time, though there was no light to see by beyond the fire they sat around.

“Gone,” Fuuma said simply.

“Gone where?”

“We’re sitting on the last piece of land in this world.”

“But this island is small,” Kamui protested.

“Hm,” Fuuma agreed. “Everything else is below water now.”

“How?”

“There’s a hurricane that rages across this world. My guess is that it’s on the other side of the globe at this point, which is why the sun’s been shinning for days without any clouds. But hurricanes are fueled in oceans, and only die after they hit land and can’t get any more energy from the ocean. But there never were large land masses in Miya. So the hurricane only grew until each island sank.” And he stilled. Fuuma stretched out his legs, looking up at the stars. “I’d say come winter, this island will sink, too. And there will be nothing left. This will be the world of water.”

Subaru and Kamui were quiet, thoughtful.

“I suppose Yuuko-san wanted something to remember this world by. That’s probably why she sent me. It can’t be helped, I suppose. Worlds die every day, without anyone there to notice or care.”

“Is there nothing that can be done for this world?” Subaru asked quietly.

Fuuma shook his head and there was something different with the way he smiled, and somehow Kamui knew this was another instance of hidden meanings. He said, “There’s nothing that can be done with something as powerful as a hurricane. You can’t outrun it. You can’t control it. It just is.”

“I suppose you can’t tame it, either,” Kamui said firmly, staring straight at Fuuma.

Fuuma’s smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “You have to wait until it hits land to lose its energy and fizzle out.”

“And if it doesn’t hit land?” Kamui’s eyes narrowed.

Fuuma shrugged. “Then it goes on forever.”

“Really?” Kamui wasn’t sure if he wanted to believe those words.

“Really,” Fuuma confirmed.

Subaru left that conversation terribly confused.

 

\---

 

“Kamui,” Subaru said later that night as the vampire collected water from the stream.

“What is it?”

Subaru paused.

Kamui looked up at him through his fringe, hunched over the water jug. “Subaru?”

Subaru smiled at that but quickly returned to his thoughtful expression. “Why do you smell like Fuuma-san?”

Kamui nearly fell into the stream. As such, only the water jug slipped from his hands and caused a small splash over Kamui’s feet. He bent down to pick up the jug, keeping his face passive despite the strange territory his twin had just stepped into.

“What?”

Subaru looked torn between just letting it go or elaborating. Kamui wasn’t sure which one he wanted. Subaru settled on the latter: “You smell like him, and he smells like you.”

“We’ve spent twelve days together,” Kamui grumbled moodily. He stubbornly shoved away the thought that told him that they’d spent more than just days together. He refused to think about it. But he couldn’t lie to Subaru, either.

“We’ve spent almost our entire lives together, but our scents haven’t merged.”

Kamui stayed silent, valiantly pretending Subaru’s observation wasn’t greatly disturbing him.

“Kamui?”

“… Subaru,” Kamui managed after a tense silence. Kamui sat down at the water’s edge. Subaru joined him. Kamui sighed deeply. “He and I…”

Something flickered in Subaru’s eyes. Understanding.

“You did?” Subaru’s voice was hushed.

Kamui nodded bitterly. Subaru touched his hand, lightly.

“I always thought I hated him. I thought he was just being a jackass half the time, not…”

“Kamui,” Subaru interrupted, but not unkindly. “In Tokyo, I was only aware for a short while, but even I could tell that Fuuma-san…”

“Don’t say it,” Kamui half-begged, half-demanded.

Subaru fell silent.

“It’s okay to like him,” Subaru added at length, green eyes studying his brother with the kind of understanding that only comes with a twin brother.

Kamui’s expression crumbled.

 

\---

 

The seventeenth tally mark and Kamui woke up to Fuuma and Subaru talking.

“I saw him a few worlds back, actually.”

“Ah… is he… well?”

“Still searching for you,” Fuuma said, in a tone that was almost empathetic. “He won’t stop, either. Until he finds you.”

“Seishirou-san is…” Subaru trailed off and Kamui swallowed his rage, tensing up. Subaru laughed mirthlessly. “He’s going to so much trouble because of me.”

“It’s surprising,” Fuuma said lightly. “Nii-san doesn’t care for a lot of things. He’s just indifferent and uninterested. But I’ve never seen him hunt for something as passionately as he chases you.”

“And that’s why we won’t let him get to us,” Kamui growled, remembering himself.

Subaru looked surprised to see Kamui awake but Fuuma just laughed. He said to Subaru, “You seem to attract the stubborn ones.”

“You too, Fuuma-san.”

Fuuma glanced back at the silently glowering Kamui. “What can I say?” he said with a shrug. “I like the painfully stubborn. I find it cute.”

Kamui’s glare only intensified.

Fuuma laughed.

 

\---

 

The eighteenth tally mark, two weeks after Kamui had landed in this world, was long enough for him. The talk of that hunter only made him realize that waiting here was only giving that bastard a chance to catch up. He told Subaru this while they collected water for Fuuma, who was off down the beach collecting firewood.

“We’re leaving today,” Kamui told Subaru.

Subaru looked up, water jug in hand. “Oh.”

Kamui wasn’t sure what to make of that reaction, and something in his face must have said so. Subaru smiled lightly.

“He’s very charming.”

“Oh, not this.”

Subaru was quiet for a moment before adding, “You should see the way he looks at you, Kamui.”

“… What?”

Subaru stood up and tilted his head towards Fuuma off in the distance. Kamui watched him for a moment before Subaru gently pushed him towards the direction of Fuuma on the beach. Kamui released a long sigh, but obeyed, partially because he knew his twin was right and also because, deep down, there were things he wanted to say to Fuuma.

The man looked up as Kamui approached. “Leaving?”

Kamui froze. “How’d you…?”

“You’re looking rather grim today,” Fuuma supplied. He shrugged and tucked the logs under his arm. “With Subaru here I knew it was only a matter of time. You two have a safe journey.”

“That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say?”

Fuuma tilted his head. “What do you want me to say, Kamui?”

“How can you let me go that easily if I mean as much to you as you imply?”

Fuuma started walking away from the camp. Kamui glanced back at Subaru before moving to walk alongside him. They walked in silence for a long moment before they rounded a bend on the beach. There, Fuuma dropped his driftwood (really, more like casually tossed) and pressed against Kamui. Kamui went down and Fuuma flattened him to the sand, hands pressing him down, hovering over him.

“You’ll find I’m not as childish as nii-san,” he murmured in Kamui’s ear. “I can let things go without having to chase them.”

Kamui arched up against him but Fuuma silenced any words by kissing him soundly on the mouth. Kamui kissed him back, opening his mouth to Fuuma’s tongue. He kissed Kamui silently, one hand drifting down from Kamui’s wrist to curl around his thigh and force it upwards. Kamui’s free hand tangled in Fuuma’s hair as his leg wrapped around Fuuma, drawing him close. When they pulled apart Kamui was slightly dazed. He tugged on Fuuma’s hair absently.

“You’re not going to chase me?”

Fuuma laughed and shook his head. “I’m not,” he agreed. “Because I know I’ll see Kamui again. Someday.”

“How do you know?”

“It’s a nice thought to believe in, don’t you think?” Fuuma smiled.

“… Idiot.” Kamui snorted, “What if we never do? What then?”

Fuuma laughed quietly but quickly fell silent, just watching Kamui’s face, one hand stroking his cheek absently.

“Have I tamed your heart?”

Kamui paused and looked back at him. There was no smile on his face, no teasing tone. He looked directly at Kamui and he was frozen.

“… Are you going to make me say it?” he asked at last, resigned.

Fuuma smiled, and it was heartbreaking.

“No,” he murmured.

Kamui arched against him, hesitant to speak but not stopping himself when the words slipped past him. “You don’t have to chase what you already have.”

Fuuma, for once, didn’t have anything to say to that.

Kamui kissed him.

 

\---

 

The walk back was silent and short. Almost too short.

Subaru was there to meet them. He smiled as they approached. Fuuma smiled back and deposited the logs on the ground near the fire pit. There was a long, strained silence.

“Will you be okay on your own, Fuuma-san?” Subaru questioned.

Fuuma smiled. “I’m used to traveling alone. I won’t be in this world for much longer.”

“Ah, but isn’t that lonely?”

Fuuma laughed. “There isn’t anyone at any time who doesn’t miss someone.”

“Who do you miss?” Kamui cut in.

Fuuma’s smile didn’t waver. He just looked at Kamui before sighing, “Who knows?”

“You’re responsible for what you tame,” Kamui murmured. “Don’t forget that.”

“Is that so?”

“So you’ve said,” Kamui stated firmly. “Unless you take it back.”

“I don’t,” Fuuma said lightly. “There’s only one thing that I’m responsible for, after all. I have to take good care of it, I suppose, or else someone will be very angry at me.”

Kamui tilted his chin defiantly upwards, crossing his arms.

“Hm.”

“Have a safe journey,” Fuuma said lightly, waving his hand.

The twins didn’t say anything as they disappeared. One of them didn’t tear their eyes away from the hunter, even as the sky dropped down to scoop them away, leaving behind nothing but a whisper as a reminder that they’d ever been.

Kamui and Subaru left.

Fuuma stayed one more night to watch the stars and the way the hurricane in the distance drew ever closer.


End file.
